


Right Around The Corner Of Nothing

by Awol



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Time Alteration, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 12:44:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12254646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awol/pseuds/Awol
Summary: Naruto wakes up five years in the past before he was a genin as an adult due to a seal breaking ninjitsu that causes the Kyuubi's chakra to destroy him. A few words from a familiar missing-nin offers him so insight of what might have happened. Yet, the only thing that matters now is that Naruto has a chance to relive his life and has some difficult choices to make. Does he do exactly what he did in the past before he died? Or does he change everything to go into a new path?All that matters is that right around the corner, there is nothing for Naruto to lose, only to gain.





	Right Around The Corner Of Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> Based semi upon the unfinished tale of 'Until It Sleeps' by Tranquilized-nights on ff.net. 
> 
> Chapters will be on a nearly day to day basis, or sometimes week to week if needed to move along in the story.

Chapter One

There was a slight gasp as the blond woke up and he blinked a little. Shifting some on his bed, Naruto sat up and gave a perplexed look as he was confused. This wasn’t what he remembered last after he was knocked into a dark pith of his mind. He remembered pain, agony, fire, screaming of his name, and horror filled faces as he was engulfed in a fiery explosion. Another shinobi caught him off guard as he had checked over his team and Sasuke, who teamed with them to give them a chance to fight against Obito.

That shinobi, whoever they had been, Naruto hadn’t seen, had known some use of seals of some degree and was able to crack the seal on his abdomen to where Kurama’s power, chakra, and essence slid out of its hold before the catastrophe happened. Naruto didn’t exactly remember what happened, but a literal fire in his belly swarmed out and released itself out of the seal before getting larger and larger, swallowing Naruto more and more until he could no longer think or remember, blacking out with pain and internal damage.

It felt as if he had been melted by the power of Kurama.

Which, probably wasn’t far from the truth.

Naruto still was confused though. If he had died at that moment, because let’s be honest; no matter the strength and ability of a jinjuriki, no one could survive that amount of damage at one time. If he had died, why was he there now? In his apartment? One that he hadn’t been in, in... Who knew how long. He had moved out at one point, only because he had been asked to be closer to where the shinobi center was and because it was cruel to let a grown man like himself continue to live in such a rundown place, and he hadn’t been back to this place since.

Answers…. He needed answers. He was alive, he was too big for this apartment anddddddddddddddddddddddd wait what did his calendar say?

Naruto turned slowly and stared at the flimsy piece of garbage that was easily 6 years out of date and written over again and again and again, but being an orphan with little money, you did what you had to do. Sure he could upgrade if he had asked Iruka, but he didn’t think that far ahead as a child.

The calendar, if he could read through the childish scribbles that were near illegible for Kanji and Hiragana, read _This year I’ll graduate!_ That was written when he was twelve, being enrolled into the academy for the third time to try and become a shinobi, hoping to get some respect and attention. He had been so starved of it he didn’t care what happened to him, as long as someone gave him any sort of look, gazing at him no matter what he was doing or what it was they were giving him.

As long as they didn’t just ignore him and act like he wasn’t there, it hadn’t mattered.

He frowned heavily at this and breathed in shakily, covering his mouth before trembling at the memories. It wasn’t often that he cried because of his past, he rather move on and see brighter than before, but. Deep inside he still had that little boy who cried alone in his room, curled up in blankets and holding the threadbare pillow he had since he was first moved into the apartment. That pain from then, from knowing he had no one and no one truly wanted him, and if they could they’d make sure he’d disappear into the gutter. That still bit him when he was down and depressed after something going bad.

He shook and breathed in, thinking of good things, of Iruka, of Kaka-sensei, of his friends. That made him smile some, they cared for him, through thick and thin, and boundless horrors they witnessed, they came to know him and care that he was alive. Naruto gazed back to the calendar and frowned again.

More questions were piling up than answers were being fulfilled. He was back to a time he wasn’t a nin, if he read the calendar correctly, how he could be beyond him since it didn’t make much sense even now. His child mind worked far differently than his teenage and young adult mind. He was almost eighteen, past the legal consent limit in the least to show he could think for himself, but still nowhere near grown up enough to be considered a full adult.

The calendar, man his thoughts were everywhere, that certainly didn’t get better with age, read he was nearing graduation testing. That was two-four days away? How did he read this?

“Damn it, this is fucking with me” he muttered and ripped it off the wall before sitting down on the bed. Naruto breathed in and tried deciphering the calendar with the child scribbles around the corners. “Ehhhhh, graduation on the sixth? No. Eighth? Gah, I can’t stand this and I made it!” he growled and dropped the ratty calendar upon the ground. It made a ‘fwomp’ noise with hitting the floor and slid to close with how it landed. Naruto laid back and sighed then looked towards his clock before turning on the small radio he had barely used, in fact, he didn’t know it was there on the clock when he was a child, only when he was a teen did he notice after coming back with Jiraiya. It blew his mind that he never noticed.

_That’s your attention span going out_ Sakura mocked him several times when he didn’t notice something at first despite being around it for so long. Clicking it on, Naruto fiddled with it until a radio personality came out and blasted on the max volume; _GOOD MORNING PEOPLE OF KONOHA-_ here Naruto slammed it off and turned the volume down before turning on again after getting the shit scared out of him. _-ope you’re having a lovely Friday morning for the 5th, shinobi graduation is coming up soon for the new generation, give your fellow students a big encouragement before they go in! Today’s wea-_ Naruto turned it off afterward and sighed, laying down and huffing. It was the fifth, okay that was what he needed to know.

If his limited memory was correct, which it most certainly wasn’t, he was four days out from graduating or attempting to graduate. He had a class to be at in………..three hours. They got later classes for ample time to practice on their own when closer to graduating. So it was nine now, he had until noon to get to class. And… three hours to figure out how to….cover his ‘adult’ frame with that of a prepubescent boy.

Thankfully that answer came in the form of someone sitting in the corner of his room, watching him with red eyes. Naruto just barely caught sight of the other and leaped several inches off his bed and pointed at the other. He must have just arrived because Naruto was aware when people were in his personal space. And by golly that older teen wasn’t there before!

“I-I-ITACHI!!!” he shouted and clasped his hands over his jaw. His walls were maybe concrete, but people could still flipping hear his loud mouth! Naruto stared at the older teen and breathed quickly with confusion and shock clearly written in his big, blue eyes. Itachi, the elder brother of his best friend, slid out of the corner near his closet, standing tall and gave him a look,

“Naruto…. It’s been a while” he said and Naruto stamped a foot down while trying to not be loud with his voice. What did the damn missing-nin mean by that?!  
“It’s alright, I came not to collect you,” he said, “Things….” Itachi looked at his hands, “Are changing, something happened, no?” he said lightly to him. Naruto blinked and slowly brought his hands down with being confused.

  
“Changed how?” he quirked back to Itachi.

  
“You are older and I died, something happened” the elder Uchiha stated and Naruto blinked before nodding, “Least to my knowledge you did, Sasuke didn’t give details” Naruto elaborated.

  
Itachi breathed in lightly and nodded as well, “Tell me what happened, what you remember, Naruto-kun” Itachi said while he moved to lean against the door to Naruto’s messy closet of orange and white jumpers. Man, he needs to replace them…. They screamed ‘look at me!’ and ‘I’m an easy target who doesn’t know what they’re doing!’

Naruto blinked and looked to Itachi again before thinking some and began to talk about what he remembered. “Well…. It’s fuzzy some. We were in battle and regrouping, Obito was off doing…. Something, and we were healing some of our team before someone came and grappled me. A hand went to my abdomen and then. Pain. A physical fire pain began to swirl and swell in my gut before exploding outwards.” he stated and then looked to Itachi after he had gazed to the ceiling to remember. There was a slight water stain on the ceiling from Naruto getting a leak in it from the rain. He never really thought of it as bad since he was a kid, but now.

  
“Ahhhh, after that I don’t remember, just. Nothingness really. I think I died, but then I woke up here” he said some. Itachi blinked and nodded before tilting his head down to think.

  
“Do you feel that presence of the crow still in you?” he quirked a small bit. Naruto blinked and then touched a spot where he had felt that damn crow Itachi made him swallow had been. It was something he got use to since he couldn’t do anything about it, it was more annoying than anything else.

  
“Now that you mention it. No, I don’t. I had gotten use to it being there, but it’s not anymore” he said, blinking and touching the spot more.

  
“I see” Itachi lightly whispered before looking more to Naruto, “that crow held the eye of my relative Shisui, it was his Mangekyo Sharingan. I took it after his death and hid it in the crow so it wouldn’t fall into another’s hand, I’m sure you know Danzo has the other one” he quirked a little to Naruto and there was a nod.

“As it is, I believe whatever happened to you, whatever seal break or jitsu was used, messed with the crow and caused this. Time paradox to happen. I know of things I shouldn’t at this time and you..., you obviously don’t belong.” he stated and gazed at Naruto, “I know things because it was my chakra and ninjitsu used for the crow, and you are here because it was concentrated in you.” Itachi stated. Naruto just blinked and nodded before showing he kind of understood.

“Be that as it may, we now live in a place we shouldn’t and it. It will cause problems. You especially” Itachi went on, “I’m glad you are here and not running around outside to cause problems” he muttered and Naruto gave a look, not a friendly one at that.

  
“Excuse you, I do know better,” Naruto told Itachi and Itachi chuckled, “My apologies then” he stated with a light smirk barely gracing his apathetic face, “What I was meaning is, you aren’t causing others to know that something is going on right now. And we can disguise you to look like you were supposed to at this age, it’ll be hard since seals are not my forte” Itachi admitted to him.

  
“I know a bit of them, I learned with Jiraiya for three years with him nearly beating me senseless with it. I’m not near close enough to be a master, but I know quite more than the adept person is” Naruto said with a beaming smile on his face. Itachi stared at him with a slightly impressed look on his face, “Well we need something to be a concentrated point on” he told Naruto and the blond just blinked some.

“Concentrated point?”

“Yes, something that will hold the seal physically so not to strain your body too much, but still do what the seal wants to do,” Itachi explained to him. Naruto understood a small bit, but he gets how one could do that. The Uchiha chuckled some and shook his head, “I’ll get it going, but it’ll take me a while, at least a day”   
“But I, my younger self, has class,” the blond said and during this time they were adamant about the students going to class while close to graduation for more one-on-one help and training.

“Can’t be helped, you can’t go to class looking like this,” he said and motioned to Naruto’s stretched grown frame in near skin tight child clothes. Naruto flushed and looked down some and nodded with realizing how tight the clothes were and how uncomfortable it was in the armpits especially.

“Alright I get you there,” he said and flustered a bit while moving to at least take the shirt off since it was too tight stand having on anymore. Itachi nodded and breathed some lightly, “You have no others clothes. Unfortunately. And I do not believe you want to wear those ridiculous jumpsuits anytime soon”

“They’re my signature look as a kid, but I think it would be better to change them because I don’t think that I need to stand out as much since I know how things are now. Why the village treated me the way it did and I know they can change” Naruto said and warmed a bit.

“Right now that isn’t the case,” Itachi said while flicking his eyes, “But you being older and more mature, in the understanding at least, should give you a bit of leeway with changing your appearance. As long as some major factors are kept the same, some pieces of the timeline can change.” Itachi told him.

“....what _kinds_ of things shouldn’t be changed?” Naruto asked as he thought about several events he had wished that was different when he was young.

“Any deaths encounters with others that caused lots of different destructions and deaths, anything that changed someone for the better. Parts of your history that you can’t fully tamper with and need to happen for a better result” Itachi told him.

“Like; Orochimaru coming and attacking the Third, so Tsunade can become the next Hokage,” Naruto stated with a little sadness, he didn’t want that to happen again! Konohamaru shouldn’t lose his grandfather while he was a child.

“Yes, things like that” Itachi nodded to Naruto, “Those things need to happen, but…. Not all of them. If something happened due to unfair circumstances, say someone died because of another person when they were only doing what they were told, then…. _Maybe_ you can change that” Itachi stated, he… remembered himself having wished that with some people he had met in his life. Naruto stared at Itachi for a moment and smiled a bit, maybe…. He could save Haku and Zabuza? If he got to them…. He had to play his cards right.

“As it is, you need something to wear for now and to occupy yourself while I get the concentrated point made,” Itachi said while staring at Naruto some and seemed to go into a deep thought. Naruto flushed as he was stared at intently by the dark gaze of his best friend’s older brother. He stared back for a moment before feeling a bit of guilt for, as he remembered, his last words to Itachi.

“I…. want to apologize. Itachi” Naruto said while flushing and catching Itachi a little off guard.

“When we last saw one another and I said. _That_ to you,” he said softly before getting a look from Itachi, “About me being a better brother…” he said and huffed, flushing with guilt.

“It was the truth, you did what I couldn’t, that made you better.” Itachi dismissed his apology.

“No, it wasn’t. I could never replace you as his brother, never… never be able to make myself the villain to ensure that someone I held so dearly could live and not worry about the pains of what would have been while being known for the horrors that were caused for the betterment of others, yet never told the truth” Naruto babbled and looked to Itachi when the Uchiha put a finger on his lips to make him stop. Itachi’s eyes were, shockingly, emotional with hearing Naruto babble about what Itachi did and why. The elder Uchiha couldn’t speak, nor could he bring himself to look away from the blond as Naruto was starting to get emotional as well.

“So…. I’m sorry, f-for making you feel anything in the way I did,” Naruto told him while Itachi still remained silent and gazed at Naruto. It felt like hours, but it was a few seconds before Itachi dipped his head and moved back from Naruto and headed to the window.

“I’ll return later” the elder shinobi stated before disappearing out of the open space in a murder of crows. Naruto sighed and watched him head out before moving to just go through his closet to see what he had and made a pile of ‘throw-aways’ so he would see what he had to replace.

Good news, not a whole lot had to be thrown away.

Bad news, all he threw away was everything he owned except on oversized shirt that Iruka left on accident once. He never came back for it so Naruto just left it in the closet after cleaning it. Thankfully, as he never thought he would ever need it, he had kept it. So now he was going to toss out everything that didn’t fit or was too ‘loud’ in coloration if he was going to change things since this was his life now. Living in the past.

Naruto sighed and got them ready to go to donate at a clothing store because no one would buy them. He had because he wanted attention, and once he got it it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t fully good either. The blond shinobi went to go and look at the rest of his apartment, heading to the kitchen to see what was going on there and froze as he smelt something sour. Covering his nose, Naruto headed to the fridge and made a face when he pulled out some and drinks and began to put them on the counter to dump out.

He remembered he was bad with keeping up with things as a kid, he never paid attention, he never took notice if something was bad, he was focused on other things that he deemed were more important than keeping his health a priority. It made him a dingbat and an idiot in the eyes of others. Also made them worry more than they had needed to. As he got older, well it did get better, but he still forgot now and again, but it was usually a sharp reminder with his honed senses alerting him of something amiss.

“Damn, almost everything is bad in here, how did I not poison myself as a child? Oh, wait…. Did” he said and groaned while pouring everything down the sink drain and making a face as he saw the dirty dishes and knew the ones in the drawers and cupboards would need to be cleaned as well. He wasn’t overly hygienic as a hyper child, Iruka got onto him several times when he saw him just put dirty silverware back in the drawer. He learned by the time he was a genin, but still.

It wasn’t too pleasant.

Naruto threw the empty containers away and began to clean the fridge out of bad food and scrubbed it down since mold was growing inside. He scrunched up his nose and began to clean more and was getting on a role.

His movements of chores and cleaning up had caused time to pass quickly. It was good as he didn’t have to think about when Itachi would be back and he got his apartment cleaned up and ready for him to live in it once more, properly this time. He was an adult, he needed to act like it, even if his peers saw him as a twelve-year-old brat.

Sighing after he finished his dishes and cleaning his fridge out, Naruto moved to go and shower real quick and make himself feel clean. All that nasty dirt, grime, and mold just made him shiver and feel gross. He sighed as he got the shower going, he had no tub so he couldn’t soak, but that’s why Konoha had open baths in compensation. He looked around for toiletries and frowned some, great, he’d had to make a big list of items to get. He had soap and some questionable shampoo, a nearly destroyed toothbrush, as well as an abused tube of toothpaste.

_I was a sloppy child._ He noted with disdain and rubbed his face before removing the pants he had on and slid into the shower. From there it was a quiet clean up and scrub down. Took about seven minutes then he was out and grabbing a towel to dry with. Afterwards, he moved to put the oversized shirt on and the pants back on so he wasn’t just in his giblets. Even if it was his apartment, Itachi still came in and would probably do so since they were reliving the past.

“Guess he’s not finished doing what he needed to do” Naruto muttered, but paused as there was a knocking on the door. He went to go open it but paused again. He couldn’t do that, no one was to see him. So he said nothing and listened.

_“Naruto, are you there?”_

_Iruka sensei?_ Naruto quirked some to himself mentally.

_“Damn, where is he? Not coming to class is one thing, but surely he’d show up by now. Maybe he’s asleep or something? Tired himself out with training? Hard to do, but he’s done it before. If he doesn’t show tomorrow I guess I’ll send Anbu after him to find him”_ he said aloud, something he rarely did, but it echoed his worry. Naruto felt guilty, but didn’t say anything while Iruka sighed, _“He’s not here.”_

_Sorry, sensei…. Not today, but tomorrow, I promise._ Naruto swore while he heard Iruka head away from the apartment door. The blond sighed and rubbed his face before turning and jumping nearly out of his skin when he saw Itachi standing there.

“Say something next time!” he hissed while Itachi gave a humored gaze as motioned Naruto into the other room, the bedroom to be exact, with his head as he turned. The blond followed and blinked to see what Itachi had. There were several stacks on the bed, which still needed to be made up from earlier, of clothes that were in various dark shades and styles.

“Don’t tell me you spent money on me, Itachi” Naruto stated while Itachi said nothing, “Damn it, don’t do that” he growled and flustered. He hated being spoiled in the way of clothing. Food he could understand, but clothes and weapons… he should be able to afford it.

“Too late, accept them and move on” Itachi stated and threw a shirt and some pants at him before tossing jacket to go over the shirt. Naruto caught them and blinked a little bit.

“What’s this for?” he inquired to Itachi, receiving a, “For tomorrow” in response. Naruto just gave a blank look and put them off to the side for that use.

“Fine, fine, fine, what do you tend to do now? It’s getting late and I don’t have a place to house you” Naruto stated as he gathered the clothes up and put them away. How was he going to explain these clothes? Training went wrong and needed replacements? Pranking people with changing attitudes after graduation?

“I’ll use your kitchen and work on the concentrated point” Itachi stated and moved out of the room to do that. Naruto blinked and watched him, “Need help?” he quirked, but got no response.

“O…kay then, gonna just sleep” Naruto muttered and moved to go and slip into the bed afterward. He had nothing else to do and he doubted Itachi wanted to be bothered with this important task. The blond sat up a bit and closed the window so it wouldn’t let bugs in since the night was cool. Laying down, Naruto stared at the ceiling, gazing at the water spot for a while as thoughts swirled in his brain. Questions that needed answers, points of his life he might want to think about changing, people he wanted to save. People who deserved to live.

But. The first thing he had to think of before the rest of them was, did he graduate properly or did he go the way Mizuki wanted him to go?

That was the question that needed the most answers before he thought of the rest.


End file.
